Thursday, February 17, 2005

From Dixie to Torturers

Bush's first cabinet was a bit thick with neoconfederates and like minded people.

This term appears to be celebrating Human Rights Violaters.

--- Elliott Abrams, who pleaded guilty in 1991 to withholding information from Congress in the Iran-contra affair, was promoted to deputy national security adviser to President Bush. Abrams, who previously was in charge of Middle East affairs, will be responsible for pushing Bush's strategy for advancing democracy. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59235-2005Feb2.html

John NegroponteFrom 1981 to 1985 Negroponte was US ambassador to Honduras. During his tenure, he oversaw the growth of military aid to Honduras from $4 million to $77.4 million a year. At the time, Honduras was ruled by an elected but heavily militarily-influencedgovernment. According to The New York Times, Negroponte was responsible for "carrying out the covert strategy of the Reagan administration to crush the Sandinistas government in Nicaragua." Critics say that during his ambassadorship, human rights violations in Honduras became systematic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Negroponte